Then I Smiled
by Agent Striker
Summary: Songfic- Smile by Lonestar. Nancy and Ned break up...just something i came up with a while ago and decided to post it on here...please read and review!


**I was just board so I decided to kind of wing it and put up this story. Alas, it's the break-up of the world-famous detective and her boyfriend. Sorry people, I am I a FrankxNancy fan…I do like Ned but after reading the SuperMysteries I realized that Nancy and Frank are so perfect for each other…but I'm getting rid of him nicely. The song is ****Smile**** by the now broken up group Lonestar…okay so the lead singer of Lonestar is gone and now the group kind of sucks so…yea in my mind they're gone. Go listen to this song, it's great and it's on youtube…seriously, have it playing while you read, it difinetly sets the mood, I was listening to it on loop while I wrote the story….okay, okay, on the break-up.**

**Ned's Point of View:**

_I still remember the night we met  
You said you loved my smile  
But your love for me was like a summer breeze  
Oh it lasted for a while  
I could hold on a little tighter I know  
But when you love someone gotta let'em go  
_

We were 16 the first time we meet. She was just as glorious as she was back then, longish red (strawberry blond, she would later inform me) and a pretty blue dress at a school dance. Bess had introduced us and I guess it was love at first sight….for me anyway. The first words out of her mouth were, "I love your smile."

She had promptly blushed as red as her hair and it was even more endearing. We had been dating for almost 3 years when she told me she had to move on…that she needed to find herself without me...and she wasn't sure that there would ever be an 'us' again. I guess that time she told me we'd be 'forever and always' was just a lie. Love like a summer breeze I guess…then again I'm not being entirely fair. I really could hold on to her tighter, but I don't want her to hate me, 'when you love someone, you've got to let them go' as they say.

_So I'm gonna smile  
Cause I wanna make you happy  
Laugh,  
So you can't see me cry  
I'm gonna let you go style  
And even if it kills me  
I'm gonna smile  
_

When she called and asked me to meet her I knew what was coming. I knew she was going to go. On the drive over I decided that I was going to smile and tell her I'm happy for her. I'll laugh one last time with her and make sure she leaves in style…no loud, angry break up here. There's no way I'm going to let her see how much she's hurt me, no tears. I don't want her to stay out of pity. I want with all my heart for her to be happy, and if that happy has to come without me, so be it.

_Kiss me once for the good times, baby  
Kiss me twice for good bye  
You can't help how you don't feel  
And it doesn't matter why  
give me a chance to bow out gracefully  
'Cause that's how I want you to remember me  
_

She told her story looking right into my eyes, she was going to go. She started to apologize but I shook my head, "You can't help how you don't feel." And I didn't want to why…I already had this feeling what is was really about. I knew she had seen some guys on her cases and she liked them, but she had always told me that she had kissed so-and-so, or she lead him on to get closer to someone else. The only one she never talked about was Frank Hardy…they were close, everybody said so. I hope to God she isn't leaving me for him…

She had started to leave when I gently grabbed her arm, "How about a kiss for the good times? And two for goodbye?"

"Ned…" Her pretty baby blues were filling up with tears.

"Give me a chance to bow out gracefully; don't hate me because you're going." I was pleading now, something I hated to do.

She kissed my left cheek, then my right. Finally she closed her eyes and she kissed me gently on the lips. She pulled back and we looked at each other for a few seconds.

Then I smiled, because that's how I want her to remember me…and when she thinks of me I pray that she'll smile too.

_I'm gonna smile  
Cause I want to make you happy  
Laugh  
So you can't see me cry  
I'm gonna let you go style  
And even if it kills me  
I'm gonna smile  
_

I laughed with her as she got into her car, telling the same dirty joke that got her every time. I smiled as she closed the door and waved. Still smiling as she started the engine. Heart thumping out of my chest because she rolled the window of her car back down. Wondering what she had to say, what she was going to do.

And what she did I never saw coming.

_I'm gonna smile so you can find the courage  
Laugh,  
so you won't see me hurtin'  
I'm gonna let you go style  
And even if it kills me  
I'm gonna  
Smile_

She thanked me, for smiling, for not being mad, and how much easier it made it on her. I smiled as she talked, willing her the courage to get everything she need to say out. She said I had been too good for her anyway, I just shook my head. She gave me a big smile, sweet as sugar and her eyes were as dry as a desert.

She rolled up the window and put the car into reverse. I waved with all my might and gave her a grin that put the sun to shame. And I waved until her car crested the hill, and finally going out of sight.

And I swear I felt something inside me dying.

**There you have it, the break-up of the world's most together couple. I hope you thought it was sweet, 'cause I did.**

**And as a side note, yes I know how Nancy and Ned met in the yellow hard backed books, ****The Clue in the Diary ****as a matter of fact. But I liked the thought of them dating since high school…just saying.**

**Hope you liked it, please review!**

**Love,**

**Agent Striker**


End file.
